Things tagged J.R.R. Tolkien
Novels
Articles
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If you really come down to any large story that interests people or can hold their attention for a considerable time, the story is practically always a human story, it’s practically always about one thing isn’t it: death! The inevitability of death… There’s a quotation from Simone de Beauvoir that… Read more »
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Read the first chapter of the novel Looking for the King by David C. Downing. If you like what you’re reading, visit the novel’s page to learn more or order! Chapter 1 Glastonbury, England Mid-April 1940 “Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur with his wife, Guinevere.” Tom McCord studied… Read more »
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Read the first chapter of the novel Toward the Gleam by T.M. Doran. If you like what you’re reading, visit the novel’s page to learn more or order! November 8, 1972 Saint Hugh’s Charterhouse, Sussex Porter broke silence. That was no little thing, but the breaking of his silence was… Read more »
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I’ve been arguing for the importance of a revitalized Catholic literature that is eucatastrophic, grounded in confidence of the truth of the Christian faith and nourished by the reality of the sacraments. I’ve repeatedly referenced Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings as an example of what we need to… Read more »
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What makes for vibrant Catholic literature? Is there something missing in Catholic literature today? A lively discussion on the subject has been unfolding over the past two years. Paul Elie started the discussion with a 2012 piece arguing that we are seeing a decline in serious engagement with faith…. Read more »
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It doesn’t take much perception to see that in modern culture, romantic love is considered magic. Not merely “magical”, in the sense of a pleasant poetic attribute of a relationship, but actual magic, in the full sense that any true magician ever used the term. This is never articulated in… Read more »
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I’m going to run a risk and admit something in public that I’ve hitherto just bandied in private conversations. I do this understanding that I may be marched out to the middle of the hollow square and have my Catholic author’s buttons off and my stripes cut away, but that’s… Read more »
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Good Catastrophes and Renewing Catholic Literature
by Holly Ordway
January 9, 2015 8:00 am 8 Comments
Eucatastrophe: in a word, this is what we need today, for a renewed, vibrant, and compelling Catholic literature. The word, coined by J.R.R. Tolkien in his great essay “On Fairy-stories,” means “the good catastrophe”: the unexpected happy ending, the turn from sorrow to joy. Tolkien’s own great work The… Read more »
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As a child my family had the usual comforting Christmas rituals: watching It’s a Wonderful Life, listening to Handel’s Messiah, decorating the tree, baking cookies, wrapping presents. The licorice smell of anise-flavored springerle cookies, the taste of gingerbread, the sound of the voices as they announce the coming of the… Read more »
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Flannery O’Connor suffered from lupus. C.S. Lewis lost his young wife to cancer after only 4 years of marriage. There is a theory that G.K. Chesterton suffered from developmental coordination disorder. J.R.R. Tolkien contracted trench fever while serving in World War I, and continued to have bouts of illness throughout… Read more »